When she says that, Renee Morris, executive director of St. Francis House, gives a wide smile. Morris, her assistant Dana DeLisi, and anyone else who believes that everything happens for a reason, somehow believed that Miss Carrie would make it through this dark time.

On July 7, her son Charles Barbes, who lives with her, was seriously hurt by a hit-and-run on U.S. 1.

He's now in rehabilitation, but those injuries left him unable to work. Both Charles and his mother had been living on his salary and her small Social Security check.

"My income was inadequate to support us," Miss Carrie said. "It was pretty tough, so I went looking for a job. I don't hear well, which is a limitation in dealing with people, like at a store. So I came and spoke to Renee, who I've known for years. I was on my way to The Bunnery (to ask for work) but stopped and told Morris, 'I'm looking for a job.' I never did get to the Bunnery."

Morris suggested that she might work as a laundress.

"I went home and couldn't sleep, so I prayed about it," Morris said. "I decided that I didn't care if it hurt by budget. I'm going to offer her this job."

She sent Miss Carrie a note saying so. There was a one-word reply: "Yes!" She started work the next day.

Now she gets there at 6 a.m. every weekday and leaves at 9 a.m.

Somehow, though, her job duties have been expanded to "unofficial mother."

Her assistant, Dan Bullard, who works full time for St. Francis House and full time at another job too, said, "She keeps people motivated. That's the most important thing around here. She's our nanny."

Bob Richards, a culinary school graduate who has 40 years of experience, is in charge of the St. Francis House kitchen and teaches disabled clients how to cook so they have a higher chance of getting a job.

"This was an opportunity for me to see how frustrating being homeless is," she said. "I can relate to the women who are homeless."

Morris, who will celebrate five years as director in March, adds, "There are hundreds of children in St. Johns County who are homeless."

With a tiny bit of money, Morris established a Miss Carrie Foundation, which tries to help the homeless children be like the other students in class, so they are not singled out or humiliated by other students.

For example, she said, they bought bus passes, shoes and other things, once paying for caps and gowns so the homeless children could graduate with their class.

"There's not a lot of money in this fund," Morris said. "We do what we can."

She knows how difficult the economy is now with budget cuts in private industry that make jobs disappear,

"We have limited food pantry days to two days a week from three. We deliver food to shut-ins, the disabled and elderly, not meals, food. I don't ever want to see anyone go without a basic need."

Miss Carrie said St. Augustine is a warm, responsive, accepting city, though the city, county and state could do more to help the homeless.

About going back to work at 76, she said, "If you reach a certain age and can go and do, you feel useful. It motivates me as an individual. It makes me know that I am blessed. Thank God for St. Francis House."

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